Northwest Herald / NWHerald.com • Thursday, May 4, 2017
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OPINIONS
NORTHWEST HERALD EDITORIAL BOARD:
Kevin Lyons
Brett Rowland
Valerie Katzenstein
John Sahly
Kyle Nabors
OUR VIEW
Another tool in addiction crisis
The McHenry County State’s Attorney’s Office and other McHenry County agencies took another step forward in the fight against the heroin and opioid crisis that has ravaged the nation for much of the past decade with Monday’s launch of A Way Out – McHenry County. The program is the latest attempt by government agencies to shift resources away from prosecuting first-time drug offenders and more toward preventative and rehabilitative approaches. This comes on the heels of legislation passed by Illinois lawmakers in June designed to battle addiction and stem deaths from overdoses. Last month, Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth announced that Illinois would receive $16 million in grants from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to go toward prevention, treatment and recovery services. All are necessary measures and all come as a welcome change after law enforcement agencies and government officials tried for too long to counter this epidemic as if it was any other spike in drug use. Never before have prescription opioids been so widely available. For nearly two decades, powerful opioids were commonly used to treat chronic pain with pharmaceutical companies consistently downplaying their drug’s addictive qualities. We now know the truth with millions of Americans dying from opioid overdose each year and countless suffering from addiction. Authorities have done their best to stem the flow of these powerful medications with limited success. In March, a McHenry doctor’s license was suspended after a Drug Enforcement Administration investigation alleged he had prescribed more than 350,000 dosage units of powerful opioid medications between June 2014 and May 2016. Unfortunately, those unable to gain access to these drugs are instead turning to heroin, which use has exploded across the country and throughout McHenry County in recent years. In 2012, 31 people died of drug overdoses in McHenry County. That number rose to 56 in 2016. Through the first week of March, overdoses already had claimed the lives of 18 people. McHenry County State’s Attorney Patrick Kenneally told the Northwest Herald this week during an interview for A Way Out that one person will die a week in McHenry County because of a drug overdose. Lake County’s A Way Out program has served 118 people since its June launch, and similar numbers are projected for McHenry County. Still, it’s up to residents to support such programs. Much like law enforcement and government officials, it’s time for the public to shift its perspective. We must not see addicts as criminals, but neighbors who need our help. “We know a lot of people in the throes of heroin addiction, even if they want to get help, are living on the margins of society,” Kenneally said. “They don’t know where to go, so they stay in their addiction ... . We wanted to create centralized locations where you can walk in and get help regardless of your resources or circumstances.” More programs like A Way Out are needed. A better public understanding of those suffering from addiction is a must.
THE FIRST
AMENDMENT
ANOTHER VIEW
A good tax idea from Trump There is an upside to President Donald Trump’s unorthodox style of communication: Sometimes he comes out with a good idea that a less mercurial national figure might avoid out of conventional political caution. So it was with his remark during an interview with Bloomberg News, to the effect that he “would certainly consider” increasing the federal excise tax on motor fuels to help pay for an increase in federal infrastructure spending. Trump’s one condition should present no obstacle: He said he could support a hike only if the money went to pay for highways, but the law already requires that it go into a trust fund dedicated to the purpose. Beyond that, his statement was just right. The two main revenue sources of that trust fund – an 18.4 cents-per-gallon federal gasoline tax and a 24.4 cents-per-gallon tax on diesel – have not been raised since 1993. That is to say, they have been cut, when you take inflation into account, by 40 percent over the past 24 years. Consequently, the Highway Trust Fund (which also subsidizes mass transit) is chronically underfunded and transportation needs are going unmet. Frightened of being labeled tax-raisers, presidents and members of Congress from both parties have shied away from increasing the levy or even letting it keep pace with inflation. Politicians chose instead to adopt a bill in December 2015 that purported to replenish the trust fund through such unsustainable budgetary gimmicks as a raid on the Federal Reserve’s cash flow.
Trump said he has been influenced by a friend in the trucking industry, which both benefits from a well-maintained road system and suffers from an insufficient one, in the form of congestion and vehicle damage. Accordingly, American Trucking Associations has long favored higher fuel taxes. The user-fee approach to paying for the roads makes sense for ordinary motorists as well: It’s penny-wise and pound-foolish to resist slightly higher prices at the pump, because automobile drivers, too, must pay for pothole-caused damage and time lost to traffic. Of course no one likes to pay more for fuel; policy should be adjusted to help mitigate the impact of this inevitably regressive levy on those who can least afford it. Still, at $2.38 per gallon, Tuesday’s nationwide average price of regular gasoline was less than what Americans paid 70 years ago, adjusted for inflation. The tax increase needed to cover currently planned Highway Trust Fund spending would be small – roughly a dime per gallon, according to a 2015 Congressional Budget Office report. Ideally, Congress and the Trump administration could agree to a significantly larger amount, then index it to inflation permanently to assure the trust fund’s long-term stability. By the way, a higher gas tax would help reduce fuel consumption and thus would be extremely effective in combating climate change as well. Admittedly, that’s not exactly one of Trump’s favorite causes. But he wouldn’t have to include it in his talking points.
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
– The Washington Post